“We Are Not Pretending”: 50 Things Women Want Men To Finally Understand

In the thread, women got quite open and honest about the different aspects of their lives, which might have seemed like common knowledge to other females in the community. But to some of their male counterparts, the information might have been something they didn’t know—or didn’t take seriously—before, as men tend to deal with a different set of joys and troubles themselves.

In an interview with Bored Panda, psychologist Dr. Avrum Weiss pointed out that men and women are not that different inherently, but they are socialized very differently. “There is research showing that children as young as four months old are socialized differently by their parents, based on their gender,” he said.

“Children tend to play in same-sex groups until around grade school. At that point, the girls tend to play with each other as do the boys. The girls play games that help them learn about relationships (playing house, school, or doctor, for example), whereas the boys play games that focus on competition and aggression. When boys and girls get romantically interested in each other they have each been living in very different worlds with very different skill sets.”

“The landmark research of Carol Gilligan, Ph.D. showed us that women are more socialized to focus on other people and relationships than men are,” Dr. Weiss continued to point out, adding that men learning how to listen, as opposed to ‘fixing’ things, is often an important part of what they can do to improve their relationships.

But it’s not only men that could benefit from active listening. Any person can arguably make their relationships better and understand the struggles or the day-to-day of others better if they take time to listen to what others have to share; or if they put themselves in the other person’s shoes.

“Even if you can’t yet be empathic, you can still learn to listen respectfully, assuming that what your partner says makes sense to them and needs to be respected, even if it doesn’t yet make sense to you,” Dr. Weiss emphasized.